Hundreds turn out for Boys & Girls Back 2 School Bash

As the 2019-2020 school year begins, Lorain-area families received backpacks, crayons and a healthy dose of information about community services.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County, with the Rising Titans Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative, held the “Back 2 School Bash 2019” on Aug. 24 at the Boys & Girls Clubs center at 4111 Pearl Ave.

The Boys & Girls Clubs, Lorain Schools and other agencies have collaborated for years on various backto-school type programs for youths, said Tony Dimacchia, director of operations for Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County.

But the Back 2 School Bash took off in 2018 and the second one was even bigger.

“It’s great that the community’s excited,” Dimacchia said. “We’re just glad that we can support their families and these kids with some supplies and kicking off the school year in a great way.”

There were at least 24 organizations with information tables set up.

“This is a sign of complete collaboration with community partnerships,” Dimacchia said. “This is what we should be doing, this community, working together, unifying together and trying to serve these families the best way we possibly can together, as opposed to dividing and trying to do it individually.”

Families began lining up outside the Boys & Girls Club’s center at 10:30 a.m. for the event, which started at noon, said Katelyn Gonzalez, Rising Titans Collaborative coordinator. “It’s cool to have everybody here in support of the kids and the families,” said Gonzalez.

Families and youths received the list of participants arranged in a grid like a bingo card. Visiting tables, they collected stamps from the agencies, along with brochures, stickers and other goodies.

Once the families had five stamps in a row, they qualified for a school supply backpack.

The club had 530 to give away, with Lorain City Schools security officers handing them out.

The bags included notebooks, paper, folders, pens, pencils, crayons and colored pencils, said Jess Lucas, area director for Boys & Girls Clubs.

With students, parents and guardians, attendance was expected to top 600 or 700 people.

Lunch was served by Hot Dog Heaven’s food truck and the entire event had the atmosphere of a community festival. Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will donated 250 of the backpacks and he attended the event.

The office has partnered with Boys & Girls Clubs on various programs for years, Will said.

The amount of need was not a surprise, he added, because friends and relatives who are teachers explain what they see among students.

“There’s a pressing need to try to make sure that kids get what they need, that teachers don’t have to spend money out of their own pocket to buy things,” Will said. “It does not surprise me at all. We’re just happy that we can use what resources we have to try to address it.”

Vanity Tanner and Dusty DeCost brought their children, Latricia Kidd, 12, Matthew Kidd, 10, Nevaeh Tanner, 13, Arron Tanner, 12, and Paris DeCost, 2.

The four eldest all received backpacks appropriate for their respective grades and schools.

The family heard of the event through Lorain County Common Pleas Court, where they worked on adoptions.

“It’s a big help, because I mean, we both work, but with all the bills, with a house payment, it’s a little hard,” Vanity Tanner said. “It’s a big help because buying school supplies for five kids is hard, it is tough.”

The family intends to move to South Lorain and she predicted Arron and Nevaeh likely will participate in additional Boys & Girls Clubs after-school programs.

Bentley Miller, 4, received a backpack to get ready for preschool at Lorain’s Frank Jacinto Elementary, said his mother, Autumn Miller. They attended with her daughter, Marley, 2.

“He loves it,” Autumn Miller said. “He’s happy he actually has his stuff for school.”